Kelby Parker (52) from West Rand – Gauteng is a husband, dad, mentor and off-road motorcycle enthusiast — a HUGE (for the people in the back, HUGE) KTM loyalist (KTM is an Austrian manufacturer famous for its off-road motor bikes and diehard fans) — whose life flipped in July when he was rushed to ICU for emergency surgery. What first looked like a prostate problem was in fact a ruptured colon abscess that triggered severe sepsis. He’s now facing Stage III colon cancer. The community he’s spent years lifting up is lifting him right back, so he can stay for the moments that matter: his daughter’s wedding, his son’s 18th, and his 30th anniversary with Fiona.
A love that began in primary school
Kelby and Fiona’s story reads like “The NoteBook 2” but with motorbikes. They met as kids in Alberton; he was a prefect, she was in Standard 3. Friendship deepened when Kelby worked at the local pool club, and when he left for the army, Fiona gifted him a chain engraved, “To Kelbs, Love Sis.”
On her 19th birthday, everything changed. “Something shifted that night,” Fiona recalls. “We spoke the whole evening, just the two of us… he kissed me over the wall — I fell hook, line and sinker.”
Ask around and you’ll hear the same about Kelby: he lights up a room and would “literally give you the shirt off his back.” He’s sponsored Moto-X riders, taken in children from unstable homes, hosted an exchange student, and — as daughter Kyla remembers — once drove through the night to Durban to support a colleague’s grieving family. “Dad’s got a really big heart,” she says simply.
The day everything changed
In January 2025, cramps sent Kelby to the GP — again and again. Blood tests suggested an enlarged prostate, and medication followed. When the symptoms wouldn’t clear, the urologist booked surgery for the earliest available date, 18 June. But recovery never came. “We held on for two weeks, hoping to see improvement, but it just didn’t happen,” Fiona says. They called the urologist on 30 June, got an MRI on 2 July, and by 3 July were urgently referred to a gastroenterologist. On 7 July, Kelby was admitted straight to ICU for an emergency, life-saving operation. Surgeons flushed his system and resectioned his bowels, leaving him with a colostomy bag — but they saved his life.
“Absolutely nothing,” Kelby says of what went through his mind before surgery. “I feel like I was completely numb… I truly believe my body was shutting down.”
He remembers the beeping machines, his hand instinctively reaching to his face to check for a ventilator, and “the absolute fear” on his family’s faces. For Fiona and the kids, the speed and severity of it all felt unreal: confusing, shocking, and terrifyingly fast.
Then came the final blow: pathology confirmed Stage III colon cancer. Chemotherapy lies ahead, likely delaying any colon reconstruction. How are they holding on?
“Belief! Where else do you turn in situations like this?” Kelby says. “We’re such a tight-knit family… and seeing everyone I’ve ever known reaching out to help not only me but my family too — it matters.”
When the helper needs help
On 10 July 2025, Fiona launched a BackaBuddy campaign to keep Kelby’s fight alive. Their OnePlan medical insurance covered R85,000 — exhausted on day one in ICU. Since then, the bills have kept rising, but so has the generosity: 74 donors have already contributed R268,100 toward the R380,000 target. Every rand will go directly to the family to settle hospital accounts and pay for Kelby’s ongoing treatment.
For Kelby, hope now has faces and names — and very real milestones. He wants to walk Kyla down the aisle, celebrate Troy-Lee’s 18th in January 2026, and toast 30 years of marriage with Fi in February.
“I just want to be able to hug my wife and kids again — a real tight hug,” he says. “I want to load up the bikes with Troy and Jordan and spend the day in the sun with friends and family… I’m optimistic, we will get there!”
Fiona says the support shown has flooded their home with hope:
“The support from angels across the world—from strangers to family, customers, suppliers, friends—has left us completely speechless. It really does restore your faith in humanity.”
To support Kelby Parker visit their BackaBuddy campaign link here:
https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/life-saving-procedure-for-kelby-parker
Please share his story — every donation, message, and share helps keep this devoted dad, husband and KTM superfan on the road to recovery.